Parks take the hit for Congress' failure

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Closed: Arches National Park – Arches National Park is one of 401 National Park Service sites to close to visitors during the government shutdown.

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Closed: Yellowstone National Park – Wildlife will be roaming in visitor-free peace at Yellowstone National Park -- the fourth-most-visited national park in 2012, with 3.4 million visitors last year.

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Closed: Statue of Liberty – New York's Statue of Liberty, one of the United States' most recognizable symbols, is among the National Park Service sites affected by the federal government shutdown. This means Liberty Island, a national park, is closed to visitors too.

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Closed: Olympic National Park – Washington's Olympic National Park is famous for offering visitors ocean, mountains and rain forest in one park. Now that the U.S. government shutdown has come into effect, guests staying in campgrounds and on-site hotels will be given 48 hours to leave.

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Closed: Great Smoky Mountains park – Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the nation's most visited with 9.7 million visitors last year. The shutdown comes as the park enters one of its busiest months of the year, according to visitor stats.

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Closed: Acadia National Park – Nearly 2.5 million people visited Maine's Acadia National Park last year. Mid-October is usually a busy time of year, with travelers coming in to check out the colorful fall leaves in the forests.

Operational: Airport security – Airport security personnel are considered essential and will continue working through the shutdown. So if you fly, there will be someone there to ask you to remove your shoes. (File photo)

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Photos:Closed: National parks

Operational: Air traffic control – Air traffic controllers, some safety inspectors and other essential employees will "continue working in order to maintain the safety of the national airspace system," said the Federal Aviation Administration. (File photo)

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Story highlights

Theresa Pierno: The federal government shutdown has closed the National Parks

She says this means loss of millions to parks, businesses, nearby communities

She says parks, already hurt by earlier cuts, now symbol for congressional dysfunction

Pierno: Congress must restore services to funds to parks and reopen them

Were you hoping to spend the weekend viewing the beauty of the change of seasons at the Great Smoky Mountains? Are you one of the 24 couples who had a wedding planned on the National Mall in October? Did you plan to visit Half Dome on the 123rd anniversary of Yosemite's establishment in 1890?

Unless something changes soon, you won't be able to do any of those things because of the federal government shutdown. The shutdown has closed the 401 National Park System sites across the country. Visitors will be turned away, gates will be shut, tens of thousands of employees will be furloughed and communities will lose millions of dollars a day.

Only a few hundred yards from the congressional impasse, the National Mall and its Monument Parks in Washington now have a new feature: barricaded landmarks, including the Lincoln, FDR, Jefferson, World War II and MLK Jr. memorials.

National Parks are often called "America's Best Idea," and now they are symbols of political dysfunction. They are not the reason for our country's budget woes. But national parks and the people who rely on them-- visitors, school groups and businesses -- are once again collateral damage in a broken budget process.

Theresa Pierno

What's worse, many national parks have been forced to close during their peak visitation season, places such as Acadia National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, where people go to enjoy the fall foliage. And many people wait till the cooler months to visit places such as the Grand Canyon and Death Valley.

The potential loss of more than 750,000 daily visitors from around the world -- the number who typically visit national parks in October -- might cost local communities as much as $30 million each day the national parks are closed.

The closure of America's crown jewels threatens the livelihood of park businesses, gateway communities and the American families within them, whose economies rely on national parks being open for business. Families, school groups and tourists from around the world who have made plans to visit and enjoy our national heritage will face disappointment.

Bar Harbor, Maine, adjacent to Acadia National Park, attracts nearly 10,000 visitors daily in October. The loss of these visitors could be shattering to a community that relies on that final flush of tourism dollars before the steep drop-off in winter.

Chris Fogg, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, told me that with the impact of the sequester and the late opening of Acadia's roads, business was already down about 30% in April and May in comparison to the average over the last five years. "We just can't believe that Congress is letting this happen," He said. But it is happening. All across the country.

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The federal government shutdown has made a bad situation even worse for our national parks. Over the past three years, the National Park Service's budget has been cut by 13%, or about $315 million.

These cuts have already forced national park superintendents to delay the opening of parks or park roads; close visitor centers, picnic areas and campgrounds; decrease the number of rangers to protect and maintain parks; and limit the number of educational programs. Countless students across the country have been denied educational opportunities in national parks and opportunities that would shape their love of the outdoors and parks for the rest of their lives.

We need Congress to do two things: Reopen our national parks and then restore the funding they lost because of the damaging sequester. Our national parks are treasured by Americans nationwide. The federal government has a responsibility to keep them open and adequately funded.

Today, Yosemite's birthday has been spoiled for the American people and for tourists from around the world.

We need Congress and the president to reopen our parks and reach a budget agreement that keeps America's greatest places protected and open from now on.